Beer and Baseball (by Ed Fallon)

Before I tell you this crazy dream I had last night about beer and baseball, I’ve got three requests:

1. Bold Iowa operates on an impressively tight budget. Our funding comes mostly from the grassroots, i.e., you! Please donate to help us close out the year in the black.

2. Purchase my memoir, Marcher, Walker, Pilgrim (click here). All proceeds go to Climate March. Columnist Rekha Basu writes, “Fallon’s account … won’t be some scientific analysis of why we have alternating droughts and floods, and occasional July winters and December summers. … His book is more of a tribute to the natural world as he and some 35 to 50 walkers experienced it in their quest to ‘wake people up to what’s going on before it’s too late.'” (Read Rekha’s column here.)

3. Ask three friends to sign up for our weekly blog/update, which I send out either from this address or ed@fallonforum.com. E-mail is our best tool to build the organizational foundation needed to accomplish real change. We won’t inundate you, and we never share or sell our list to anyone.

Mike Gegenheimer on Twitter: Skip Bertman and #LSU present former Southern Baseball coach Roger Cador with a rocking chair in honor of his retirement.

So, about this dream. I was playing major league baseball (yeah, only in my dreams). I came to the plate and struck out four times (ok, that part’s realistic). After my last strikeout, I sauntered out to center field where I was surprised to find my rocking chair. I sat down and prepared to watch the rest of the game.

The other team’s leading slugger stepped up to the plate. Suddenly, the fans rose to their feet while children poured onto the field. Led by a seven-year-old girl standing at the pitcher’s mound, everyone raised a beer to toast the slugger, singing, “We like beer, yes we like our beer.” The girl and other under-age kids raised cans and bottles of soda pop instead.

Little boy drinking unhealthy bottled soda.

Why am I sharing this dream? Mostly for entertainment value. But I also ask you to consider how corporations such as Coke and Pepsi addict our children at an early age to what has been called “liquefied diabetes.”

I thought about how other corporations (not all, but a lot of them) lie brazenly to get filthy rich. Just as Exxon knew about climate change in the 1970s, yet lied to its own shareholders, Coke and Pepsi know their products are, basically, poison. Our challenge with Big Pop (and Big Ag, Big Oil, etc.) is to sort fact from fiction so we aren’t duped into paying through the nose for what’s against our best interest and the best interest of the planet.

There’s no better time to ponder this than the annual holiday shopping extravaganza known as “December.” That said, I hope — in the midst of buying, receiving, and returning gifts — you and your family carve out space these next few weeks to enjoy a peaceful and pleasant respite from the chaotic cacophony of commerce.

And sure, let’s welcome the New Year and promise to do everything we can to make it better than 2018 (I know, low bar). Toast 2019’s entry with a beer, glass of wine or sparkling water. But please, give the kids milk, pure fruit juice or water instead of soda pop.

Finally, let me reiterate that among the many things our Bold Iowa Team is grateful for is your support and involvement over the past three years. Onward to a more sustainable 2019!

Ed Fallon

P.S. Please check out this week’s Fallon Forum. You’ll enjoy some of the conversations, maybe even all of them.